Presser foot or bar for molding-machines



(No Model.) v

P.- L. OREIGHTON.

PRESSER FOOT 0R BAR FOR MOLDING MACHINES. vN0. 485,153. Patented Oct. 25, 1892.

6!! d7 65d 5 WIT E5555 UNITED STATES, PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK L. CREIGHTON, OF SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

PRESSER FOOT OR BAR FOR MOLDING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 485,153, dated October 25, 1892.

Application filed February 1, 1892. Serial No. 419,89L (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FREDERICK L. CREIGH- TON, residing in Somerville, county of Middlesex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Presser Feet or Bars for Molding-Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawing representing like parts.

Thisinvention relates to molding-machines of that class in which straight pieces of material are acted upon by suitablyshaped cutters or knives to obtain the desired form of moldings, and which machines are commonly known as straight molders.

In straight molding machines as now commonly constructed and known to me the piece of wood or like material to be molded is held down upon the bed-plate of the machine by a presser bar or foot made as a single piece or block, usually as wide as the cutter-head upon which the cutting blades or knives are secured. With the presser bar or foot as now commonly constructed a considerable space exists between the edge of the presser foot or bar and the cutter-head, and when a number of cutting-knives of different lengths and widths are secured to the cutter-head to effect in the Wood cuts of different depths, and

thereby obtain an irregular molding, the

- presser foot or bar is removed from the cutterhead a sufficient distance to clear the longest knife. As a result of this construction it frequently happens that the shorter knives chip or splinter the surface of the wood or like material being treated and tear substantiallylong pieces out of the wood, thereby spoiling the work and rendering the piece of wood worthless for the purpose intended.

My present invention has for its object to overcome the defect referred to, and I accomplish my object by making the presser-foot of independent sections or pieces adjustable toward and from the cutter-head on the wood engaged by the presser foot or bar, so that difierent sections of the presser bar or foot -may be engaged by the different sections of the presser bar or foot at the same relative be pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification.

Figure 1 is a. side elevation of a sufficient portion of a molding-machine provided with a presser baror foot embodying my invention to enable the invention to be understood; Fig. 2, a top or plan view of the machine shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a sectional detail, to be referred to and Fig. 4, a detail, on an enlarged scale, of one of the presser-foot sections.

A represents the bed-plate of a straight molding machine of any usual or WQll'kIIOWH construction, such as nowcommonly used for the manufacture of wood moldings. The bedplate A is provided with the usual feed-rollers a, which in practice are positively driven bya suitable gearing, (not herein shown,) and the said bed-plate also supports a rotary shaft or, the said shaft, as shown in Fig. 2, having one end supported in a suitable bearing a represented as a bracket secured to the bedplate A.

The rotary shaft a, which may be driven by any usual or well-known gearing such as now commonly found on straight molding machines, has firmly secured on it a cutter-head a of any usual or well-known construction, it being represented as a substantially-oblong block provided on its faces with longitudinal slots at, in which are inserted headed bolts 05, over which the cutting knives or blades ct are placed and are securely clamped to the cutter-head a by suitable nuts a screwed upon the threaded bolts a 7 The cutting knives or blades or are and may be of any usual or well-known construction such as now commonly employed on straight molding machines and are provided with a longitudinal slot a by which the said knife or blade may be adjusted on the cutterhead to effect a deeper or shallower cut in the piece of wood a being treated. The wood a", inserted beneath the feed-rolls a, passes ICO under the cutter-head and is acted upon by a my'present invention by means of a presser foot or bar composed of a plurality of independent sections (shown separately in Fig. 4) and each consisting of a curved portion or member b and an arm or member b, extended rearward from the upper part of the member I) in a substantially-horizontal plane.

The presser-foot sections are mounted in a carrier or hollow box 19 preferably provided with a detachable bottom or under side b herein shown in Fig. 3 as secured to the sides of the box-shaped carrier by screws b The presserfoot carrier is herein shown as secured to a lever or pivoted arm b pivoted, as at b, to an upright 12 on the bed-plate Aand provided. at its rear end with an adjustable weight 19 by which the pressure of the sectional presser foot or bar upon the wood a. may be increased or decreased, as desired. The presser-foot carrier is herein shown as secured to a plate W, as by bolts 19 and the said plate is attached to the lever b by bolts b the plate 12 being provided with the upwardly-extended plate or shield 19 forming the usual chip-guard. The presserfoot sections are secured within their carrier, as herein shown, preferably by set-screws c, inserted through the front side of the hollow presser-carrier and abutting against the arm I) of one of the presser-foot sections. The arm b of the presser-foot section is made smaller than the main body or member I) of the presser-foot section, so as to leave shoulders c 0 which abut against the front side of the hollow presser-foot carrier when the arm I) of the said presser-foot sections is in sorted into the said carrier.

From the construction shown it will'be'seen that each presser-foot section may be adjusted in its hollow carrier independent of the other sections, so that when the cutting blades or knives a which are secured to the cutterhead, are of varying lengths, so as to produce cuts of varying depths in the wood a", the said independent sections may be adjusted in the carrier so as to bring the foot portion of the section nearer to or farther away from the cutter-head, according to the length of knife with which the presser-section co-operates, the said carrier remaining practically stationary with relation to the cutter-head.

As represented in the drawings, and especially in Fig. 2, four cutters or knives a are shown as secured to the upper side of the cutter-head a and these knives are shown of different lengths, with the smallest at the inner end of the cutter-head and the longest .at the outer end; of the said head, and it will also be noticed that the presser-foot, as herein shown, is composed of five sections, the innermost section being adjusted out of its carrier to the correct distanceand the outermost section being the least adjusted from its carrier, so that the presser-foot sections are adjusted in their carrier to correspond to the different lengths of the cutter-knives with which they co-operate as, for instance, the shortest cutfoot section the farthest extended from its" carrier and .the longest knife has co-operating with it the presser-foot section the least extended from its carrier -so that substantially the same surface of wood will be exposed to be acted upon by all the knivesthat is, the innermost presser-foot section, being the one farthest adjusted outward,will clear the smallest knife, and the outermost presser-foot section, being the least adjusted from its carrier, will clear the longest knife. The presser-foot sections may be adjusted in and out of their carrierindependen'tly of oneanother, so that they may be made to conform to the position or arrangement of the cutting-knives upon the cutter-head a andtheadj ustment of the presser-foot sections may be varied to correspond. to the difierent kinds of molding to be produced. Each presser-foot section, which is' preferably composed of metal, such as castiron, is preferably provided on one face with a rim d, extended around the perimeter of the section, so as to leave or form a hollow chamber 07.. This construction is preferred by me, so that when the independent sections of the presser-foot are firmly clamped together within their carrier 12 the hollow portion d may receive any fine dust or chips which might otherwise become lodged between the presserfoot sections and which would tend to distort or wabble the said sections, thereby giving rise to irregularity in the work.

I claim- 1. In a molding-machine, a bed-plate and a rotary cutter-head supported thereon and pro vided with a plurality of knives arranged on the cutter-head to effect cuts of varying depths in the wood or material being acted upon, combined with a presser-foot carrier having a fixed or stationary position in a substantiallyhorizontal plane above the bed-plate with relation to the said cutter-head and a presserfoot composed of independent sections adj ustable in a substantially-horizontal plane toward and away from the cutter-head independent of the said carrier, whereby a presserfoot section co-operat-ing with the long knife on the cutter-head may .be moved back away from the said cutter-head and a presser-foot section co-operating with a shorter knife on the cutter-head may be moved forward toward the cutter-head to expose the same surface of wood to be acted-on by the different knives, substantially as described.

2. In a molding-machine, the combination, with a bed-plate and a rotary cutter-head supported thereon and provided with one or more knives, of a hollow presser-foot carrier secured above the bed-plate in a fixed position in a horizontal plane with relation to the cutter-head' and a presser foot or bar composed of independent sections secured in said hollow carrier and each consisting of a main portion or member b and anarm b, extended rearwardly from the upper part of the member 12 in a substantially-horizontal plane and 4:. The herein-described presser-foot section, consisting of the main portion or memr 5 her I) and the arm or member 11', extended rearwardly in a substantially-horizontal plane from the upper part of the member 19.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of 20 two subscribing witnesses.

FREDERICK L. CREIGHTON.

Witnesses:

'J AS. H. CHURCHILL, SADIE O. FEARING. 

